79.
Before they embarked on a more metallic, mid-paced direction towards the end of their tenure, Texan powerhouses Hatred Surge released some of the most incendiary, abrasive and chaotic powerviolence of the mid-2000s. This handy collection rounds up the absolute cream of the crop, including their first EP and splits with the likes of Insect Warfare and The Endless Blockade. If anyone tries to tell you powerviolence died in the 90s, chuck them a copy of this.Hatred SurgeHorrible Mess 2005-2007Iron Lung
78.
Much of A.R. Kane’s most compelling science fictional dreams are captured on A.R. Kive 1988-1989, which compiles their first two albums, 69 and “i”, plus the preceding Up Home! EP, released over a remarkably productive two-year period. It’s easy enough to trace back A.R. Kane’s influences – Cocteau Twins, Can and Miles Davis at their most oceanic, Sun Ra at his most spacey – and the myriad of musicians from My Bloody Valentine to Tricky to Seefeel who have drawn on them since. But what comes through most clearly, listening to these tracks, newly remastered by the duo’s Rudy Tambala, is the sense of play. From their punning name, suggestive of obscure occult knowledge, to the gleeful abandon of their all-channels-open approach to music making, A.R. Kane made play central to their operations.A.R. KaneA.R. Kive 1988-1989Rocket Girl
77.
When tQ do their annual lists, boring dweebs do shit cry-laugh emoji posts about how half the albums must be made up. In nearly all cases there is actually plenty of information available concerning the featured artists: Transcode, it must be said, is an exception to this rule. I’m pretty sure Ikoba lives in Newport, South Wales and grew up in Kampala, Uganda, but otherwise I know nothing about him at all. This may not even be in the correct poll, but I’m assuming a 45-track, three-hour Bandcamp release to be an Aphex Twin-style hard drive dump. The reason I voted for it in this chart is because the music, in toto, is incredible polyrhythmic lo-fi techno/ noise/ jazz, and I want there to be other people trying to wrap their heads around it like I’ve been.IkobaTranscodeSelf-Released
76.
Following a period spent with Pierre Schaeffer’s Groupe de Recherches Musicales and working in Karlheinz Stockhausen’s studio in Cologne, but a few years before international breakthrough Oxygène, Jean-Michel Jarre began writing songs for French artists including Françoise Hardy and Christophe, and was commissioned by director Jean Chapot to score his 1973 “rural thriller” Les Granges Brûlees. An Aphex Twin favourite (according to Jarre himself), it combines the classical melodicism of the main theme with electro-acoustic sound-pictures like ‘Une Morte Dans La Neige’ and the quirky synth-pop of ‘Zig-Zag’.JeanMichel JarreLes Granges BrûléesTransversales Disques
75.
Indie music in the early 2000s was depressingly heterosexual, on both sides of the Atlantic, whether it was The Strokes’ tired pastiche of louche 70s new wave / rock masculinity or Razorlight’s damp cokey limpness rubbing against you in a one-pillow bed. Against such awfulness, Joel Gibbs’ Hidden Cameras were a breath of fresh air or, indeed, glorious rush of warm piss, as album opener ‘Golden Streams’ had it. This is a beautiful, at times almost spiritually exuberant, record which is devoted to queerness, romance, kink and being yourself. It makes much of today’s wearily generic sex-positivism (the tedious flipside of the beta str8 laddism of 20 years ago) seem rather vanilla in comparison.Hidden CamerasThe Smell Of Our Own (20th Anniversary Edition)Rough Trade
74.
I would venture to say there has not been a (film) composer in Poland with such broad stylistic and genre horizons as Andrzej Korzyński. He wrote rock, funk, synth pop, jazz and disco-style compositions using the workshop of a classical music composer. He reached for baroque, neo-romanticism, and neo-classicism, the achievements of the avant-garde. He realised himself in pop songs, theatre music, television, dance, and musicals, plus film music, which became his most important field of activity. Most likely, interest in Korzyński’s work in recent years would not have happened without the Finders Keepers label, which has been putting out previously unreleased recordings of the composer for many years. Andy Votel, its co-founder, first became aware of Korzyński on a trip to Poland taken while an art student during the mid-90s. At the time, he bought many recordings because of the covers – only discovering how fascinating the music they contained was when he got home.Andrzej KorzyskiThe Devil TapesFinders Keepers
73.
Compiled by the London-based DJ duo Time Is Away (Jack Rollo and Elaine Tierney), whose monthly NTS radio show is always worth a listen, Searchlight Moonbeam follows on from 2022’s A Colourful Storm-released Ballads, which the pair also curated. The material featured across this latest collection draws on the weird and wonderful old and new, touching on autumnal pieces by the likes of Taiwanese folk artist Chen Ming-Chang, Indian-Australian violinist Bhairavi Raman, French pianist Delphine Dora and Japanese ‘super-group’ Kasumi Trio, among plenty others. There’s also room for a psychedelic reworking of PiL’s ‘Poptones’ by Simon Fisher Turner.Various ArtistsSearchlight MoonbeamEfficient Space
72.
Elbow Room In Paradise takes in 19 solo pieces by the late Australian musician Patrick Gibson, which he originally recorded between 1981 and 1992. Outlining the breadth of his talents, the release ranges from wonky guitar experiments (‘Eno Thing’) and creepy synth jams (‘Swooping Churning’) to fantastical DIY pop pieces (‘I Needle The Oven!’, ‘Church Of England TV’) with ephemera such as vacuum cleaners, toiler roll holders and contact mic’d woks all popping up as unlikely sound sources through the collection.Patrick GibsonElbow Room In ParadiseEfficient Space
71.
The music of a Lithuanian composer from 1985, made for a dance ballet, doesn’t sound like a soundtrack; Šarūnas Nakas’ avant-garde ideas are better associated with dadaism and merz art. ‘Lonelier Than All Of Us’ recalls the music of Lea Bertucci or Dickie Landry. Electroacoustic experiments include ‘Merz-Machine’ for 33 electronic and acoustic instruments or ‘Vox-Machine’ for 25 electronically modified voices. Lithuanians have always been good when it comes to creating the most bizarre and surreal of music.arnas NakasRamblingsMusic Information Centre Lithuania
70.
Dark Entries probably has a better handle on cult weird Brit shit of decades past than most people who were at ground zero in the era. As such, there seems to be very little chat online about Ian Elms’ 1982 DIY synth LP Good Night that doesn’t pertain to this label’s reissue of it. When you’ve built a rep, you can make that chat happen. Most of Good Night‘s 15 songs feature a human drummer, Geoff Sears, who generally plays with a machinist rigidity; lyrics (on the parts of the album that have them) are reeled off in sullen London-accented monotone and giving the impression they were first written as poetry. Elms displays nous for melody, and pretences to cinematic grandeur, but to the extent we can assess his intentions, harboured ambitions to touch listeners emotionally rather than ape the trajectory of, say, Tubeway Army.Ian ElmsGood NightDark Entries
69.
Vidéo-Aventures were a French 70s underground supergroup of sorts, led by Camizole’s Dominique Grimaud and featuring members of Etron Fou Leloublan, Urban Sax, Maajun and more. This album was originally released at the dawn of the 80s and combines the free experimentation of the previous decade with the short sharp shocks and minimal electronics of the new wave, while harking back to 60s futurism with its cover of The Tornados’ ‘Telstar’. The original release is barely over 20 minutes long but this reissued package throws in an extremely generous helping of rarities and unreleased treats.VidoAventuresMusiques Pour Garçons Et Filles + InéditsSouffle Continu
68.
Cease And Resist is an 18-song compilation of anarcho punk, all UK-derived apart from The Ex’s ‘Ay Carmela’, and it has a major advantage over most collections addressing this genre because its compilers – JD Twitch, whose Optimo label it is on, and Chris Low – have got permission to include songs released on Crass Records. Crass’ own ‘Bloody Revolutions’ is one of these, longer than the version most know by virtue of a half-minute Thatcher impersonation at the end, and the band’s Gee Vaucher designed Cease & Resist‘s front cover. Supposedly taking ten years from conception to release, the compilation prioritises the anarcho scene at its least conventional, with selections informed by disco (Poison Girls’ ‘Underbitch’), jazz (Cravats’ ‘Rub Me Out’), proto-techno (‘Here’s What You Find In Any Prison’ by Hit Parade, which I can barely believe is from 1982), hip hop (D+V’s ‘Conscious’) and Stockhausen (‘Hello Horror’ by Annie Anxiety).Various ArtistsCease And Resist: Sonic Subversion And Anarcho Punk In The UK 1979-1986Optimo Music
67.
Presenting his stripped-back experimental take on kuduro, the uptempo style of dance music that he popularised in Angola in the 1990s, DJ Znobia’s Inventor Vol 1 offers a vital entry route into the origins of a sound that has since exploded owing to his 21st century collaborations with MIA and the Portuguese group Buraka Som Sistema, as well as the genre’s wider breakthrough via the output of labels such as Príncipe Discos. There’s a distinctly lo-fi charm at play across the 11 tracks featured on this compilation – the first in a series of four records showcasing Znobia’s work – as clipping, distorted basslines battle it out with toe-tapping drums across a variety of tempos. Never losing sight of making dancers move, this anthology of Znobia’s work is inherently playful, be that in the referencing of the Cameroonian makossa song ‘Zamina mina (Zangeléwa)’ on the bass-ridden ‘Zabinamina’ or the low-slung dembow-esque drums of standout cut ‘Esfregado’.DJ ZnobiaInventor Vol 1Nyege Nyege Tapes
66.
As a massive fan of punk film director Gakuryū Ishii, the strange synth motifs from his dreamiest film, August In The Water – about ancient aliens, diving and a heatwave – are etched in my mind. That film isn’t easy to find in decent resolution with English subs, and so this reissue of Hiroyuki Onogawa’s music for the film meant I could conjure the uncanny feeling of stillness that film induced.Hiroyuki OnogawaAugust In The Water: Music For Film 1995-2005Mana
65.
Hermeto Pascoal released music in the late 60s with the Sambrasa Trio, Trio Novo (who became Quarteto Novo) and Brazilian Octopus. His first album under his own name featured a large ensemble of more than 30 musicians, and stakes an early claim to territories he would investigate in more detail throughout his career. A goofy looking Pascoal looks entirely at home on the cover, nestled amongst an array of instruments, but there’s no mistaking the serious intent of the opening track. Breathy sounds, like bottles being blown into, hang opaque and dreamy in the air. A murmuration of voices can be heard alongside other scraping percussive sounds. A violin or viola drones alongside a suggestion of natural, animal sounds almost obscured in the background, the rhythmic bowing of its strings almost percussive. Then out of this bed, which begs some comparison to the contemporary radical sounds of AMM, Pascoal’s flute emerges, still ghostly but distinctively his own. It’s a clear statement of intent, acknowledging where experimental music is and has been, and providing a tantalising glimpse of where Pascoal intends to take it next.Hermeto PascoalHermetoFar Out
64.
This sprawling double-CD, recorded live at Festival Sons d’hiver in Paris in February of 2020, represents something of a victory lap for the revived Art Ensemble Of Chicago, that began, under Roscoe Mitchell, in 2017 at London’s Cafe OTO. A massively expanded lineup, with Mitchell and long-time percussionist Famoudou Don Moye surrounded by a top-flight crew of improvisers spanning generations, dropped another ambitious double album, We Are On The Edge, in 2019, and this performance followed suit, transforming the group into something of an orchestra. The repertoire toggles between older and newer pieces, but in typical fashion Mitchell is only looking forward even when revisiting classics like ‘Leola’, with an ominous recitation from Moor Mother, or his early game piece ‘Cards’, where the improvisational mettle of trumpeter Hugh Ragin, trombonist Simon Sieger, and Mitchell sparkles in a garrulous introduction before the strings of cellist Tomeka Reid, violinist Jean Cook, violist Eddy Kwon, and three bassists (Silvia Bolognesi, Junius Paul, and Jaribu Shahid) swoop, scratch and soar.Art Ensemble of ChicagoThe Sixth Decade: From Paris To ParisRogueArt
63.
So heavy are the waves of cabinet-wrecking psych-punk energy emanating from the cursed grooves of the four sides of vinyl that make up this 20th anniversary reissue of The Heads’ Under Sided that they have irreparably disengaged the constituent elements of the space time continuum. So while a less well-seasoned traveller of the astral highways, byways and dual carriageways who is trapped on an all too pathetic and predictable plane of linearity might, perniciously and pedantically, claim that this fantastic-looking and sounding double LP was actually reissued in September 2022, it falls to us to point out that the actual deeper, more resonant, more spiritual, more fine-smelling truth is that in many ways it very much didn’t, and it is, in fact, simply happening continuously right now, man. Stop looking at your calendar, you squares, and submit to the freakout.The HeadsUnder Sided (20th Anniversary Edition)Rooster Rock
62.
One of the last live sets recorded before his passing earlier this year, Catching Ghosts finds free jazz titan Peter Brötzmann exploring his growing fascination with Moroccan gnawa music, alongside drummer Hamid Drake and Majid Bekkas on both vocals and a two-stringed, camel skin-backed guembri. There are peaks when Brötzmann’s fiery sax blows across the duo’s tranquil grooves like thick storm clouds, but he’s uncharacteristically meditative for most of the set, the trio in lockstep as Brötzmann finds inventive ways to nestle between the hypnotic rhythms. As a swansong, it’s testament to both his powerful stage presence and his ever-inquisitive nature.Peter BrötzmannCatching GhostsACT
61.
There is closeness and distance on the stunning, detail-rich debut album by Slovak experimental musician Adela Mede, which was reissued to a wider audience this year by Glasgow’s Night School label. She layers ambient compositions with field recordings, digital vocal manipulations and minimalistic electronica, while the record is also embroidered with folkloric melodies. On Szabadság (Hungarian for freedom, or vacation), Mede documents her inner homecoming journey. The record finds its grounding solace in landscapes, both real and dreamily esoteric.Adela MedeSzabadságNight School
60.
The fanfare that has surrounded Radiohead’s 1997 album OK Computer since its release has muffled the praise deserved by a record that came out the following year: Semi-Detached by the punk/ metal/ alternative rock band Therapy? Their fourth album was finally issued on LP this year, its only prior vinyl version being a limited box set of multiple seven-inches which is, let’s face it, the most ball-aching way to listen to a full album.
